This arrangement is in one of my favourite colour schemes, purple and yellow! The container is a tall black vase, and the mechanics are floral foam, inside a black plastic flower pot which sits snugly in the neck of the vase. The drainage holes have been filled with hot-melt glue so that the flower pot holds water. Foliage used is Cordyline for the height, lovely blue-grey Melianthus major (one of my all-time favourite shrubs), Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart', purple Heuchera 'Stormy Seas' and Ligustrum ovatum aurea (golden privet). For added interest and to bring the black colouring of the vase through the arrangement, I have used black-sprayed Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (contorted Hazel). In the centre of the arrangement I have used three purple painted cane balls for their form, texture and colour. Flowers used are tall purple Aconitum, purple Lisianthus (syn. Eustoma), purple Aster chinensis, yellow Carnations and yellow Chrysanthemums (now known as Dendranthema!). There is also a group of the Foxtail Grass, Setaria italica, which gives a lovely contast of texture. To bring the purple colour down to the base, I have used a purple velvet drape, which is wrapped around the neck of the vase (under the foliage) and pinned into place with dressmaker's pins. A black octagonal base completes the picture.